“Almost every pub we visited had a ghost story and among the characters we met was a reformed armed robber who related to us funny, and true, stories about the lighter side of life behind bars in Peterhead, and an American tourist we met in Mallaig, who insisted that the Glenfinnan Viaduct nearby was built for the Harry Potter films.”

● The Auldest Boozers in Toon in Waterstones from today and online from Amazon.co.uk

The Sheep's Heid Inn, Edinburgh

THIS pub is in the village of Duddingston – between Holyrood Palace and Craigmillar Castle – and can be traced back to the year 1360.

Legend has it that the pub got its name after the landlord was given a snuff box shaped like a ram’s head by King James VI.

Steamboat, Lossiemouth

HERE, we met a barman telling us about one of his practical jokes.

One of the girls in the pub, Patsy, sells fresh eggs to the customers.

Finding the cartons of eggs unattended, Gordon proceeded to boil them before putting them back in their boxes.

It caused a bit of a sensation around the town, especially around breakfast time the next morning.

The Laurieston Glasgow

NOT exactly very historical but a fine example of a working class pub.

Lots of formica on display. Among the famous names to have visited this pub is Ewan McGregor .

This boozer sits on the edge of the Gorbals.

The Globe, Dumfries

RABBIE Burns moved to Dumfries when he was 27 and The Globe became his regular haunt.

This place was notable for the barmaid telling ghost stories.

On one occasion the ghost made its presence felt while a Burns supper was taking place in the building.

The piper, a retired police sergeant, was standing at the top of the stairs ready for his entrance when suddenly he was hauled backwards on to the landing. By all accounts the sergeant was a chunky chap, not easily shifted.

I suppose you could say there were strong spirits involved.

Tam O ' Shanter, Ayr

THE building was originally a brewery but became an inn in 1749. Burns his said to have based his hero on characters he met there.

The barmaid told us what the famous poem meant and the best bit is that the story of witches and galloping horses was an elaborate cover for the hero’s overindulgence in the pub one night.

People must have been a lot more gullible then if they thought this excuse would ever get a drunk off the hook with his wife.

The Scotia Bar, Glasgow

BUILT in 1792 and said to be the oldest bar in the city. However, we found it shut for two extended periods – once in 1900 and again in the 1980s.

The latter reportedly due to the antics of a biker gang. When we asked bar staff Joanna and Allan if they had any funny tales, Allan said he couldn’t think of anything too outrageous – apart from the time a horse wandered into the pub.

The Central Bar, Renton

THE pub was created in the early 1900s, though the building dates from the 1700s. One of the regulars when he was a student was James Wright, who under his pen name James Herriot, wrote All Creatures Great and Small. This is some fearsome looking pub from the outside. I was wetting myself but why I was worried I have no idea because these pubs are always the best inside.

Minor details, like the fact that all they had to drink was lager, whisky and vodka, were not important. After all, if these three drinks are not enough, there’s something up with you.

The White Hart Inn, Edinburgh

WE have visited literally hundreds of pubs in our last five books – purely for research, you understand.

One thing we have come to realise is that there are not many that our national bard, the great man himself Robert Burns, has not had a pint in, or a good night out with a member of the fairer sex.